Sales up when Dogs at home, but merchants prefer later start time

Home game advantage

Posted: Sunday, November 23, 2008

By Don Nelson

Whether they win or lose, when the University of Georgia Bulldogs play football at home, Athens businesses score big, but Georgia's schedule this year has seemed somewhat like a feast or famine for some local merchants.

From the opening game Aug. 30 with Georgia Southern - including the Sept. 27 Alabama game that drew enormous crowds - to the Vanderbilt game on Oct. 18, Georgia played five games in a span of eight weeks, boosting businesses in Athens for five out of eight weekends.

But six weeks will have passed between that Oct. 18 game and the Bulldogs' final home game of the season at noon Saturday against in-state rival Georgia Tech. Additionally, this year, the Bulldogs hosted only six home games, compared to seven last year.

"This has probably been the worst football season I can remember as far as doing business," said Brian Fortson, owner of Fortson's Clothiers on East Clayton Street. "Last year was like a dream come true, because Georgia opened up with a tough opponent (Oklahoma State) and finished with home games against Kentucky and Auburn."

One home game weekend can draw more than 100,000 people to Sanford Stadium, and the economic fallout for downtown Athens is especially big because it can mean four days of potential shoppers for downtown merchants, said John Widmer, owner of Encore, a women's clothing store.

"Our sales are up 41 percent on game weekends," Widmer said. "Girls start buying Thursdays; Fridays are at a fever pitch; Saturday (is) the game crowd, alumni and visitors and Sundays people come downtown to eat and get stuff they put on hold."

Encore enjoyed robust sales in August because of the Georgia Southern game, and did well in September because there were two home games, Widmer said.

October sales did well, but were down compared to last year because there were fewer home games than in 2007.

November, on the other hand, features only one home game and suffered heavily compared to last year when the Bulldogs hosted three home games, Widmer said.

This year, with only the upcoming home game, there is no way Encore's sales could rival last year's, Widmer said.

What makes this one November game even tougher, is that the Tech contest comes on the Thanksgiving weekend, and UGA is suspending classes for the Thanksgiving break beginning Monday.

That means many students likely left town this past Friday and won't return until Saturday, Widmer said.

"The students won't be here buying stuff for the game, so that will hurt, too," he said.

Gameday generally will be good, but one saving grace might be cooler weather, Widmer said.

"One year it was cold, and we sold every pair of gloves we had," he said.

Fortson agrees that the Georgia Tech game will be lackluster, especially for businesses that depend on the student market.

Having three games practically in a row early in the season was hard, too, because it burns out fans and merchants early, Fortson said. Having the home games spread out in the season helps businesses, he said.

Home games increase Gyro Wrap's restaurant sales volume by 50 percent to 100 percent, compared to a normal weekend, but the stacking of home games on one end of the football season doesn't really make much difference to Gyro Wrap's season-long bottom line, said Gyro Wrap owner David Carter. The money will come in when the games are held, no matter what time of the season they're scheduled, he said.

"For us it pretty much washes out," Carter said.

What it does impact is his scheduling, he said.

"It is really hard, especially on the staff, because we have almost everybody working on those (home game) weekends."

So the Gyro Wrap staff don't get a lot of time off when there is a run of UGA home games close together like this year, Carter said.

"It's really busy, and it really takes a lot out of you to have to work one of those weekends," Carter said. "When it's several in a row, it's hard."

Planning well ahead and scheduling all the staff becomes paramount for his business when home games are compressed closer together, Carter said.

When most of the home games are scheduled at the beginning or the end of the season, stores have to manage their budgets, inventory and schedule more intensely, said Rod Pharr manager of the Taco Stand.

"I like it better when the games are spread out because it gives the opportunity to schedule staff and stock up between them," Pharr said.

Having several home games in a row means the Taco Stand makes a lot of money quickly instead of spreading it out, Pharr said.

"The months after are leaner, so you have to plan well," he said.

A UGA home game schedule that was spread out to include games in the warmer months as well as the cooler months also would be helpful to businesses, said Scott Towe, owner of The Red Zone, a Georgia football apparel and memorabilia store.

"(This year's) first (home games) were all jammed together and then this long (six-week) drought," Towe said. "If I could make up the schedule, it would be more evenly staggered and more weighted toward the end of the season."

Games held in cooler weather also means Towe can sell more expensive, heavier clothing, rather than T-shirts and less profitable items.

Towe would like to see at least two, if not three games in November every year.

"Plus it gives everybody a breather," Towe said. "It seems like the whole season is over earlier, and then the team has this long road trip. It seems to me it would benefit the team and the economy if it were more staggered."

Regardless of what months the games are played, the business owners interviewed for this story all agreed that what makes the biggest difference for business is what time the home games start.

"A lot of businesses depend on football, and it makes a big difference in their bottom line," said Kathryn Lookofsky, director of the Athens Downtown Development Authority. "The timing affects them a lot. It's not so much the number of games because you can have fewer games if the timing is right and they start later in the day."

"The thing that affects us more than anything is when the game is played," Carter said. "The early games really hurt sales, because we miss the lunch business, and then the fans get out and leave before eating dinner."

Games that start at 3:30 p.m., drawing lunch and dinner business, are the most lucrative for Gyro Wrap, Carter said.

When home games start at noon, like Saturday's Georgia-Georgia Tech match-up, people arrive late and go home early, said Pharr.

"They don't spend much time downtown," Pharr said.

Later games help the clothing business, too, said Rusty Heery, owner of Heery's Clothes Closet and Heery's Too.

"Last year's schedule we had four games in September, and the first two kicked off after 6 p.m.," Heery said. "We had the most awesome September ever; late kickoffs are wonderful for our business, because it gives people all day to shop."

Most downtown business owners share that sentiment about when the games start, but they differ on another Georgia football issue - the Georgia-Florida contest, which is held in Jacksonville, Fla., every year and serves as a sort of fall holiday for Athens residents.

Arranging for the Georgia-Florida game to alternate between the schools' home stadiums would be the most significant scheduling change UGA could make for the benefit of the Athens economy, Widmer and Fortson said.

"Having the game in Jacksonville really hurts us, because that's the biggest game of the year possibly," Widmer said. "That one week, even every two years, would generate loads of sales tax."

"This year, my November will probably be 25 percent off from last year's November," Fortson said. "If we had a Florida game here, that would have made up for all that. Athens loses tons of revenue from the Florida game, and it's a bad deal for everyone in Athens."

Although having Florida play in Athens once a year would be great for business, it's a tradition that should stay in place, Carter said.

"When Florida played here before, it was huge," Carter said. "But the Georgia-Florida game in Jacksonville ... is something really special."

"As much as it would benefit Heery's business, I hate to mess with the tradition of people going to Florida," Heery said. "I might be putting my heart in front of my wallet."

Heery's wallet and the wallets of plenty of Athens business owners are fattened every fall when the Bulldogs invite other teams to play at Sanford Stadium and 100,000 fans descend on the town.

"It's live and die for football in the fall," Heery said. "All those people coming into town is just wonderful."